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https://www.mdpi.com/2624-6511/4/1/6/htm

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Introducing the “15-Minute City”: Sustainability, Resilience and Place Identity in Future Post-Pandemic Cities

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The socio-economic impacts on cities during the COVID-19 pandemic have been brutal, leading to increasing inequalities and record numbers of unemployment around the world. While cities endure lockdowns in order to ensure decent levels of health, the challenges linked to the unfolding of the pandemic…

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720359209

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Highlights

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Literature on the impacts of COVID-19 on cities is reviewed.

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Evidence related to four thematic areas is synthesized.

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Existing evidence is mainly related to air quality and environmental factors.

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Significant improvements in air and water quality have been observed.

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Poor, marginalized, and vulnerable groups are disproportionately affected by the impacts of COVID-19.

Abstract

Since the early days of the COVID-19 crisis the scientific community has constantly been striving to shed light on various issues such as the mechanisms driving the spread of the virus, its environmental and socio-economic impacts, and necessary recovery and adaptation plans and policies. Given the high concentration of population and economic activities in cities, they are often hotspots of COVID-19 infections. Accordingly, many researchers are struggling to explore the dynamics of the pandemic in urban areas to understand impacts of COVID-19 on cities. In this study we seek to provide an overview of COVID-19 research related to cities by reviewing literature published during the first eight months after the first confirmed cases were reported in Wuhan, China. The main aims are to understand impacts of the pandemic on cities and to highlight major lessons that can be learned for post-COVID urban planning and design. Results show that, in terms of thematic focus, early research on the impacts of COVID-19 on cities is mainly related to four major themes, namely, (1) environmental quality, (2) socio-economic impacts, (3) management and governance, and (4) transportation and urban design. While this indicates a diverse research agenda, the first theme that covers issues related to air quality, meteorological parameters, and water quality is dominant, and the others are still relatively underexplored. Improvements in air and water quality in cities during lockdown periods highlight the significant environmental impacts of anthropogenic activities and provide a wake-up call to adopt environmentally friendly development pathways. The paper also provides other recommendations related to the socio-economic factors, urban management and governance, and transportation and urban design that can be used for post-COVID urban planning and design. Overall, existing knowledge shows that the COVID-19 crisis entails an excellent opportunity for planners and policy makers to take transformative actions towards creating cities that are more just, resilient, and sustainable.

View Abstract

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The COVID-19 pandemic: Impacts on cities and major lessons for urban planning, design, and management

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Since the early days of the COVID-19 crisis the scientific community has constantly been striving to shed light on various issues such as the mechanis...

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/07/16/how-to-design-a-smart-city-everyone-wants-to-live-in/

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Chief Technology Officer at Integrity Management Services, Inc., where she is leading cutting-edge technology solutions (AI) for clients. What is a smart city or a smart community?
Throughout the world, governments have been challenged by rapid urbanization, increased citizen expectations and the need for modern infrastructure. The advent of cloud computing has accelerated the adoption of new technological solutions for improving our cities and our quality of life.

Smart cities or communities are rapidly expanding to create new economic opportunities, conserve the environment and enhance citizen services. Research suggests that there has been an increase in funding in smart cities (download required) in cities across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Latin America. According to Smart Cities World, the market for smart cities will be over $2 trillion by 2025.

The main goal of smart communities is to use digital solutions to address the challenges of a city, county or region to:

1. Conserve resources in the long term.

2. Improve the well-being of citizens through the provision of efficient public utilities and services.

3. Predict potential hazards and take preventive actions - such as flood detection, energy shortages, sewer leaks, etc.
What is an example of a smart community?
4. Use of data and digital platforms to improve citizen involvement for healthcare or social services.

5. Make environmentally friendly choices along with clean energy.

There are many successful implementations of smart cities around the world. For example, the city of Dijon in France is considered France's first smart city. Dijon focused on improving the utility infrastructure to reduce electric costs by employing smart street lighting, smart parking, etc. Another focus area was the safety and security of citizens that was achieved by connected smart services including Wi-Fi spots, CCTVs and a centralized hub for crisis management.
1. Public Safety
Recently, I was able to witness a smart community firsthand close to where I live in Virginia. Stafford County has been planning, designing and investing in a smart community testbed for the last few years. Their efforts finally came to fruition on May 25th, 2021 with the inauguration of the smart community test center. Some of the focus areas of Stafford smart county initiatives are 1. broadband everywhere, 2. reduction of traffic congestion, 3. improved community safety along with vehicle and pedestrian safety, 4. the reduction of energy consumption and 5. making the community attractive to new businesses, startups and citizens.

The following are some of the use cases being piloted in the Virginia Smart Community Testbed in Stafford:

* Use of drones for public safety and emergency management.

* Covid-19 testing in wastewater.

* Utilization of sensors for smoke and flood detection.
3. Connectivity
* Utilize cutting-edge blockchain-based military-grade cyber technology to secure IoT sensors.
4. Hazard Detection
* Deploy cameras in the government center that utilize this technology.

* Implement fixed wireless broadband to the underserved population.

* Use of outdoor sensors for detecting forest fires and floods.
6. Economic Development And Tourism
5. Building Management
What should cities be doing to get started on smart city initiatives?
* Use of a centralized incident response platform to improve situational awareness for a quicker and safer response.
How can smart cities handle cyber threats?
* Virtual Reality (VR) and digital twins to provide a virtual history tour of the county for potential tourists.
What are the challenges when implementing smart cities?
To get started with smart city initiatives, understand the needs of the region, speak to residents and businesses to gather feedback and prioritize use cases. Next, think about funding options - partnerships, alliances and grants are typical funding sources. For example, Athens created a successful smart city project due to its collaboration with partners such as Microsoft. Lastly, think of a pilot program to launch your initiative in order to test the use cases before scaling up.

IoT devices used in smart cities expose vulnerabilities that can be exploited by cyberattacks. Hence, it's important to focus on methodologies to reduce the cybersecurity risk. Some of these methods include - foundational measures of authentication, encryption and access control. Add to that ongoing security monitoring and end-to-end security lifecycle management to include vendors and third-party devices.

Apart from the challenges of dealing with funding issues and cybersecurity, the following are some of the challenges to consider when implementing smart city solutions:

1. Infrastructure. Technology infrastructure is at the core of a smart city (network, IoT devices, etc.) and challenges can include power supply,connectivity and seamless integration. Buenos Aires, Argentina is an excellent example of establishing infrastructure that connects various IT systems and streamlined information flow. They were able to connect citizen problems reported via a mobile app to the local government, who in turn assigned it to the nearest vendor to solve the problem.

2. Building inclusive smart cities. Ensure that considerations of all sectors of residents are included, especially the protected classes, even those who don't have connectivity.
Conclusion
3. Privacy. Providing assurance to residents about the privacy of the data collected with clear communication and transparency.

4. Community engagement. In order for smart cities to be effective, it's important to get involved with residents. Organizing town-halls, email newsletters and online education can help with keeping the citizens engaged and get up-to-date information.

Smart communities have become an essential expectation from citizens as they're looking toward improved quality of life and creating a sustainable environment for future generations. However, a smart community is not about implementing high-tech digital solutions but about creating solutions with citizen engagement, community-first initiatives and measuring the impact on the lives of people in the community.

Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?

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Council Post: How To Design A Smart City Everyone Wants To Live In

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Chief Technology Officer at Integrity Management Services, Inc. , where she is leading cutting-edge technology solutions (AI) for clients. What is a smart city or a smart community? Throughout the world, governments have been challenged by rapid urbanization, increased citizen expectations and the need for modern infrastructure.

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www.15minutecity.com

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https://afry.com/sites/default/files/2021-10/AFRY_Future%20Cities%20survey_2021%20EN.pdf

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https://coronavirus.jhu.edu

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Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center

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Johns Hopkins experts in global public health, infectious disease, and emergency preparedness have been at the forefront of the international response to COVID-19.

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https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html

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Accelerated changes in sustainable urban design, as a consequence of the pandemic

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https://www.di.se/brandstudio/telia-cygate/fem-tips-for-att-arbeta-sakert-pa-distans/

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Läs mer om säker uppkoppling på telia.se/molninriktad

Allt fler vill i dag ha möjlighet att arbeta hemifrån och på distans. Det ställer nya krav på våra säkerhetslösningar. Då måste företagen göra det enkelt för medarbetarna att göra rätt.

Tidigare var det lättare för företagen att ha koll på säkerheten. Datorer, servrar och medarbetare fanns inom samma väggar, vilket gjorde det enklare att skydda information från att spridas. Så är det inte längre.

- När fler jobbar på distans har vi ett helt nytt läge med nya hot och utmaningar. Men också nya möjligheter, säger Simon Binder, arbetsplatsarkitekt på Telia Cygate.

- Att jobba från ett öppet nätverk på till exempel ett kafé innebär en klar säkerhetsrisk. Och att jobba hemma är inte heller så säkert. Många företag säger därför redan i dag nej till hemmanätverk. Det innebär att företagen måste tänka om och ha en ny säkerhetsstrategi.

Tillsammans med Magnus Rosendahl, affärschef IT-tjänster på Telia, listar Simon Binder fem tips som gör det enklare och säkrare att arbeta på distans:

1. Utbilda medarbetarna

Att jobba på distans innebär att ett större ansvar vilar på medarbetarna. Därför måste de utbildas, coachas och ständigt uppdateras på hur säkerheten ska upprätthållas på distans. Varje medarbetare har ett ansvar gentemot sin arbetsgivare, men arbetsgivaren måste också hjälpa medarbetarna att göra rätt. Så gör dem medvetna om hot, angrepp och risker. Precis som vi inte ska prata högt om vad som helst över allt, ska vi inte heller jobba över allt.

2. Ta skydd med hjälp av digitalt larmbolag

Det är viktigt att företaget har ett digitalt skydd som larmar om eventuella hot och avvikelser.

Se då till att de larm och skydd ni använder fungerar och jobbar tillsammans. Eller allra helst, ha en enda partner, till exempel SOC, Security Operation Center, som hjälper företaget med hela skyddet. Det blir både billigare och mer effektivt.

3. Gör en ordentlig säkerhetsanalys

Vilka nya hot och risker utsätts organisationen för i det "nya normala", vilka säkerhetsfunktioner finns och vilken lösning är rätt för just oss? För att ta reda på det, gör en ordentlig säkerhetsanalys där ni ser över alla delar och även analyserar läget framåt. Se till att ni hittar en lösning där allting jobbar tillsammans.

4. Skydda mejlen

Ett av de största säkerhetshoten är mail och andra samverkanslösningar. Det är så lätt att missta sig på en avsändare och klicka på en osäker länk - det har tyvärr många redan erfarit. En bra regel är därför att aldrig klicka på en länk annat än om du fått information om den innan. Ta också hjälp av ett mejlskydd - uppgradera det paket du har eller köp det separat. Det är ett enkelt sätt att göra det svårt angripa mejlen och att slippa oro.

Det gäller även plattformar för videokommunikation, till exempel Teams och Zoom. Så ha samma tänkt där - ta skydd på alla plattformar.

5. Använd multifaktor-autentisering

De flesta plattformar och nätverk kräver en verifiering av användaren. Men i dag räcker det inte med användarnamn och lösenord. För att identifieringen på till exempel ett intranät ska vara säker krävs en så kallad multifaktor-autentisering. Denna kan göras på olika sätt, till exempel genom en push-notis, fingeravtryck, ansiktsigenkänning eller en fysisk enhet, som ett smart card eller en Yubikey

De flesta företag har information som är känslig och måste skyddas. Och alla plattformar innebär en risk - Teams, Facebook, Whatsapp, Google...

- Därför måste alla, såväl företag som privatpersoner, skydda alla sina konton från intrång. Det innebär att vi kommer att få se allt mer av multifaktor-autentisering eller tvåfaktors-autentisering, säger Magnus Rosendahl.
Läs mer om säker uppkoppling på telia.se/molninriktad
- Men tänk på att inget skydd är 100 procent säkert så var alltid lite sunt skeptisk och tänk med förnuftet.

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Annons: Fem tips för att arbeta säkert på distans

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Läs mer om säker uppkoppling på telia.se/molninriktad Allt fler vill i dag ha möjlighet att arbeta hemifrån och på distans. Det ställer nya krav på våra säkerhetslösningar. Då måste företagen göra det enkelt för medarbetarna att göra rätt. Tidigare var det lättare för företagen att ha koll på säkerheten.

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https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/is-your-commute-making-you-sick-youre-not-alone/

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Too much travel time between work and home is one key reason why flexible work arrangements have become increasingly in demand by employees over the past decade, and for good reason. Research has found that an excessive daily commute is associated with a wide range of health problems, from increased stress and snacking to less time spent sleeping and enjoying time with loved ones. Reduced physical activity due to the sedentary schlep back and forth-plus eating more fast food en route-has been associated with weight gain as well.

Commutes Leading to Lost Employee Retention

These realities make new research from Robert Half International particularly alarming. Its study of more than 2,800 U.S. workers in 28 cities around the nation found that nearly a quarter (23%) of employees have resigned from a job because of a bad commute. More men quit due to a poor commute than women (28% of male employees versus 20% of female employees). There were other dismaying findings as well, particularly for those who live in certain key urban areas.

If you live in Seattle, Denver, San Francisco, or Austin, you may have noticed a worsening commute situation in recent years-in the Robert Half International study, these cities had the most workers who reported that their commute has become even more hellish than it was previously. Chicago, Miami, New York, and San Francisco have the largest number of employees who have quit their job specifically because they could no longer stand their bad commute.

The study did have one silver lining-nearly 40% of respondents said that their commute has actually improved in the last five years. Most of those with a better commute were younger workers between ages 18 and 34 (56%). But the majority (over 60%) said that either they've experienced no change in their commute situation or it has worsened. Perhaps the most disturbing finding was that 60% of employees reported their company has taken no concrete action to reduce the commuting burden for workers.

Requesting to Work from Home

If you're feeling demoralized by these statistics and you're among those with a hair-tearing commute, consider test-driving one or more of these talking points with your employer to raise the issue of working from home at least part of the week. It's not necessary to mention your long commute unless you feel it will help support your case, as in the first suggestion below.

Talking point 1: "I've calculated that from door-to-door, I'm currently spending over 10 hours a week commuting back and forth from work, which is taking away from the time I could be spending on helping our department reach our goals. This doesn't even include the hour a day it takes to get ready for work each day. Would you be willing to try out a work-from-home arrangement [X] days per week, so that I can put some of those hours-[X] hours a week-toward generating deliverables instead of commuting?"

Talking point 2: "I've put a proposal in writing for you that details some specific projects that would greatly benefit from working from home in a more focused environment. These projects require detailed [analysis/writing/etc.] skills, and I'm confident that I can meet our deadlines more quickly and efficiently while working remotely-particularly because I'll be able to avoid commute time."

Talking point 3: "I'd like to propose a trial remote work arrangement [X days per week/X hours per day]. During this time, I'm confident I can prove that my ability to deliver on my projects will be equal to or better than what I can produce in the office. At the end of this trial period, you can determine whether or not you agree that I'm able to provide you and the team with exactly what's needed when I'm working remotely, and whether a certain amount of remote work can be incorporated into my weekly schedule on a regular basis going forward."

Long commutes can be a big bummer, but you're not necessarily stuck with yours. Explore options with your employer before giving up your sanity or walking away from your job. And if your boss isn't willing to budge, consider using FlexJobs to look for a new, more flexible role!

Find a job that fits your lifestyle ...
Photo Credit: bigstockphoto.com
Don't forget to share this article with friends!

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Is Your Commute Making You Sick? You're Not Alone

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Is your commute making you sick? Too much travel time between work and home is one key reason why flexible work arrangements have become increasingly in demand by employees over the past decade, and for good reason. Here's what the latest research says about commuting and health.

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https://www.oysterhr.com/library/remote-work-environmental-impact

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When it comes to long-term sustainability, remote work is one of the best solutions-not only for humans, but also for Mother Earth.

Increased productivity, job satisfaction, and employee retention are just a select few benefits of working from home for employees. Employers also gain as they no longer invest in office energy consumption, space, or supplies. Likewise, remote work reduces carbon emissions and air pollution.

Nevertheless, there are ways companies can improve their strategy to take their remote working to the next level, further helping the environment in the process.

Follow along with us as we reveal the impacts of remote work on the environment so you can make the right choices toward long-term sustainability for all.

Remote working reduces greenhouse gas emissions

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 2019, transportation was the leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.

While working remotely can reduce the amount of gases released into the atmosphere, a variety of factors play into the extent to which it helps, such as whether people use public or private transportation, how far they travel, and their commercial and residential electricity use patterns.

For example, remote work may reduce greenhouse gas emissions when it replaces commuting by car. Yet, if the employee works in an area that requires electricity from nonrenewable energy sources, such as coal-fueled power plants, these benefits could be neutralized.

Here's an example comparing the heavily populated cities Chicago and Los Angeles in the U.S.

Chicago is a city in which 47% of commuters drive alone, which would make us assume working remotely in this city is better. However, the area has a higher reliance on fossil fuels, home heating, and air conditioning. So, working from home isn't as beneficial as you might think.

On the other hand, about 70% of people who work in Los Angeles commute alone. Nevertheless, because California uses relatively clean electricity, and its comfortable climate allows for reduced use of home heating and air conditioning, working remotely is healthier for the environment.

In short, in cities with relatively clean electricity and long car commutes, remote working could reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Working remotely can also improve air quality

According to the World Health Organization, air pollution kills around seven million people worldwide every year.

When the world locked down in April 2020, not only did major cities see a drop in rush-hour congestion of up to 95%, but there were also widespread declines in air pollution from road traffic.

Basically, fewer people commuting to work equates to less air pollution.

One of the cities with the most drastic improvement in air quality was New Delhi in India. The average levels of nitrogen dioxide were around two-thirds lower during lockdown compared with the weeks leading up to it.

Remote work contributes to Scope 3 emissions

Yes, those working from home are making substantial strides in reducing their environmental impact. But it's important to remember that remote companies do have a footprint, especially through what's called Scope 3 emissions.

Scope 3 emissions are the "result of activities from assets not owned or controlled by the reporting organization, but that the organization indirectly impacts in its value chain." They can include office supply purchases, leased assets, business travel, waste, and more.

Since COVID-19, Scope 3 emissions have increased tremendously as companies are providing home-office funds to their employees. Emissions to ship those supplies to each individual worker's home adds up, and they could potentially be greater than shipping one larger box to a main office.

So, fully distributed companies should do what they can to equalize some of this environmental impact. Some have already stepped up to the plate, such as Zapier.

Zapier is one of the first fully remote companies to purchase carbon offsets to compensate for their footprint. In 2019 alone, the company offset 647 tons of carbon through reforestation.

The time of year affects environmental impact of remote work

New research suggests that the season can have a substantial effect on the environmental impact of remote work.

The London-based consulting firm WSP UK conducted a study including 200 employees to see how adapting work style through different seasons can lower our carbon footprint.

Researchers found that the impact of remote work on the environment is higher during winter months because of the energy it takes to heat individual workers' offices versus a communal office building.

Whereas, in the summer months, remote workers cut out their carbon emissions from their commute. This would otherwise be greater than their home's energy consumption.

(Office working in the winter and home working in the summer can effectively lower carbon footprint.)

The impact of remote work depends on location

No two sides of the globe are equal when it comes to energy consumption patterns.

For example, back in 2019, more than 40% of vehicles sold in Norway were electric, up from just over 30% in 2018. So, the impact of commuting in the Nordic countries is far lower than the U.S., UK, and other parts of the world that are more dependent on petrol.

Moreover, many major cities that consume substantial energy traditionally relied on public transportation instead of cars for commuting. (Although, this is changing as the pandemic is causing a shift away from public transport due to perceived health risks.)

Plus, the kind of energy used in your region is also a deciding factor in your footprint as a remote worker.

For instance, the United States uses a mix of energy sources, with petroleum and natural gas consumed the most. Whereas, almost 100% of electricity in Iceland comes from renewable energy, specifically geothermal.

Each of these geographic factors can determine a remote worker's impact on the environment.

Concluding thoughts

If long-term sustainability is our goal, then we need to consider the impact of remote working on our environment, taking into account the numerous factors that ultimately determine our footprints.

We encourage you to get creative and find a happy medium, a solution that benefits our earth and your remote team alike. Perhaps this means incentivizing employees to use co-working spaces (when it's safe to do so) or blocking off days of the week in which the office is closed to everyone (no office energy consumed).

Because at the end of the day, it's everyone's homework to leave this world better than we found it by offsetting our carbon footprints.

Starting with you. Starting with us. Starting today.

In case you haven't heard, we're entering the dawn of the distributed age-organizational disruption on a global scale. Are you prepared for it?

About Oyster

Oyster is a distributed HR platform designed to enable visionary HR leaders to find, hire, pay, manage, develop and take care of a thriving distributed workforce. It lets growing companies give valued international team members the experience they deserve, without the usual headaches or the expense.

Oyster enables hiring anywhere in the world-with reliable, compliant payroll as well as great local benefits and perks.

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What's the environmental impact of remote work?

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When it comes to long-term sustainability, remote work is one of the best solutions-not only for humans, but also for Mother Earth. Increased productivity, job satisfaction, and employee retention are just a select few benefits of working from home for employees. Employers also gain as they no longer invest in office energy consumption, space, or supplies.

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https://www.roberthalf.com.sg/blog/employers/flexible-working-arrangements-7-benefits-your-business-missing-out

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https://www.oecd.org/digital/digital-economy-outlook-covid.pdf

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https://www.nexudus.com/blog/1414891932/the-future-of-work-–-workplace-trends-we-can-expect-to-see-more-of-throughout-2021/

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With today marking one year since lockdown restrictions were introduced in the UK, and other countries around the world approaching their respective lockdown anniversaries as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, we are taking some time to reflect.

The pandemic has affected just about every area of life and work as we know it, and although many organisations have adapted to or transitioned into new ways of working over the last 12 months, it certainly hasn't been without its challenges.

In regards to what this means for the future of work, in many ways, the pandemic has been a catalyst for workplace trends that were already taking root in the places of work everywhere. In fact, many of the features that have been hailed as "trends" over the last five years or so are becoming common, embedded practices in the world of work.

We believe the topics listed below will continue to play a huge role in the workplace environment for the foreseeable future. Businesses that prioritise things like lifelong learning and sustainability will be better equipped to meet the changing demands of today's employees.

And as we all know, satisfied employees are more productive ones! Let's take a whistle-stop tour through the changes we expect to see more of in 2021. (We'll be releasing a more in-depth article on each of these features every week, so watch this space.)

1. Flexible working

A recent poll by Gartner reveals that 48 per cent of employees are likely to work remotely at least part of the time after COVID-19, compared with 30 per cent before the pandemic.

Coworking operators will be the ones to help facilitate the widespread adoption of flexible working - or hybrid working, where employees split their time between the HQ, home or a "third space" such as a coworking space or cafe. Despite the pandemic, global markets are experiencing an increased demand for flexible workspace.

The Instant Group forecasts flexible workspace supply growth of over 21 per cent in 2021. What's more, 54.9 percent of remote workers who didn't use a coworking space prior to the pandemic are considering joining one in the future. Meanwhile, commercial property landlords are predicted to allocate 10 to 25 per cent of their assets for flexible leases.
Coworking spaces and other types of flexible workspaces are the "future of work" hubs.
2. Employee mental health and wellbeing

It can be difficult to summarise what mental health and wellbeing means, and what it looks like in action. Mind's booklet on How to Improve Mental Wellbeing says good mental health is all about your behaviour and what you do. It says good mental health is when:
"You care about yourself and you care for yourself. You love yourself, not hate yourself. You look after your physical health - eat well, sleep well, exercise and enjoy yourself. You see yourself as being a valuable person in your own right. You don't have to earn the right to exist. You exist, so you have the right to exist. You judge yourself on reasonable standards. You don't set yourself impossible goals, such as 'I have to be perfect in everything I do', and then punish yourself when you don't reach those goals."
Unfortunately, there's been a bit of a disconnect when it comes to people's mental health in the workspace. According to Mind, 56 per cent of employers said they'd like to do more to improve staff wellbeing but don't feel they have the right training or guidance.

Fortunately, there's a growing bank of useful mental health resources out there to help businesses prioritise and destigmatize mental health while reducing absenteeism and presenteeism (where an employee "turns up" but can't function well).

Mind's An introduction to mentally healthy workplaces contains a few useful questions business leaders can ask themselves to get started, including:

How are mental health and stress talked about in your workplace/team?

What policies for managing mental health does your organisation have?

Does your organisation prioritise learning and development among its staff?

Do you communicate staff responsibilities and expectations clearly?

3. Sustainability

Sustainability isn't just a passing trend, either in our work or personal lives. Our species - and many others for that matter - depend on it not being. As workplaces strive to be carbon neutral, we'll see sustainability woven into the fabric of buildings and the practices that take place within them.

There are so many ways you can prioritise sustainability in your workplace. Sustainable infrastructure, such as solar panels, smart thermostats and hydronic heating, can be implemented at the build and fit-out phases, or retrofitted to existing spaces.

You can also make conscious choices that are conducive to sustainability. Take coffee, for example. Let's face it - most workplaces run on the stuff.

Coffee providers like TopBrewer prioritise sustainable growth and trade. TopBrewer's coffee is sourced from farms the company has a direct trading relationship with, and have an assurance that the coffee is grown as sustainably as possible for the local environment.

Did we mention that Nexudus now integrates with TopBrewer?

The TopBrewer Pro 2021 model offers the most premium of coffee experiences, despite having the most minimal environmental impact.
4. Hygiene in the workplace

Many of us will look back at some of our old hygiene habits - or lack thereof - in disgust and disbelief. Needles to say, hygiene has catapulted up the ranks of workspace priorities.

Even if we manage to keep COVID at bay with the vaccines, it won't hurt to continue some of the cleaning routines we've established. Actually, scientists believe another pandemic will happen in our lifetime, so hygiene measures are well worth investing in.

Hygienic wayfinding - think 2m rule notices, one-way system signposts, etc.

Touchless interaction - frequent touchpoints will be replaced with hands-free technology like contactless check-in (made possible to Nexudus users through NexIO) and contactless delivery (see NexDelivery).

Hygiene supplies - hand sanitiser stations, cleaning products and PPE.

Portable furniture - As well as providing privacy in open workspaces, portable partitions, furniture and work pods can be cleaned at speed; they also make it easy for workplaces to reconfigure their layouts to comply with social distancing.

We expect to continue to see the following implementations:

5. Virtual communication

While people can't wait to see each other in person, virtual communication technologies are here to stay. When coupled with a reliable WiFi connection, video conferencing platforms enable you to collaborate remotely with employees and run client meetings without having to endure a busy commute.

That's why Nexudus made the step to integrate with Jitsi and Zoom.

Many workspace operators are planning to continue running online events after the lockdown restrictions are lifted. These events are proving effective in terms of delivery and they enable organisations to reach a wider audience.

Nexudus' integration with Zoom enables you to send a meeting link to attendees who RSVP or purchase a ticket for your online events. Our Jitsi integration enables coworking members to join always-on virtual rooms - they will be able to impromptuly jump into a meeting quickly, without having to install additional software.

6. Diversity and inclusion

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) goes beyond policies and headcounts. Employers who value equitability respect the perspectives and potential of everyone on their team. In turn, workplaces that are diverse and inclusive foster a sense of trust and commitment from staff.

What is diversity vs inclusion?

Diversity and inclusion are related concepts but they're not the same. Diversity is about what something's made up of, or its representation. Inclusion, on the other hand, is about how effectively the perspectives and efforts of different groups are integrated and valued.

So, a workplace that has different genders, nationalities and other identities might be diverse, but it's only inclusive if all groups are valued and respected.

If you're looking to make your organisation or workspace more diverse and inclusive, consider joining London Coworking Assembly's free diversity and inclusion calls. Each week, trailblazers from the sector get together to discuss how to make coworking more Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable and Accessible ( IDEA).
The LCA's upcoming talk hopes to demonstrate the way that inclusion is more connected to your business than you may think. You can register for the event here.
7. Upskilling and training

Over the last year we've come across more webinars and online training opportunities than ever before. We've run our own fair share of them too. As well as hosting a number of industry professionals from various backgrounds and sectors on a webinar series discussing the impact of technology on the industry, we also ran a series of support webinars, focussing on highly-specific scenarios to explore and teach our customers about different areas of the Nexudus platform. We wanted to make sure that our community had the information that they needed at their fingertips, when they needed it most. But webinars (and more formal skills and training programmes) are set to endure beyond the pandemic.

Many successful organisations identified the importance of upskilling and reskilling staff way before Covid-19 emerged. In 2019, the ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work stated: "Today's skills will not match the jobs of tomorrow, and newly acquired skills may quickly become obsolete." The ILO strongly recommended that governments, employers, and workers invest in lifelong learning.

As well as narrowing the skills gap in your workplace, upskilling can lead to better recruitment and retention rates. According to CPID 's Resourcing and talent planning survey 2020, skills shortages and lack of relevant experience are common causes of organisations' recruitment difficulties.
63% of companies are sponsoring relevant professional qualifications.
Many businesses are remedying this by developing more talent in-house, including upskilling existing employees to fill hard-to-recruit-for positions (69%) and sponsoring relevant professional qualifications (63%).

8. Purpose-driven values

Most of us want to have a positive impact on the world. We also want to work for an employer whose values align with our own. According to research by Gartner, 74% of employees expect their workplace to be more actively involved in current cultural debates.

The same research found that employee engagement rose from 40 per cent to 60 per cent when their organisation acted on the key social issues of the day. Now's the perfect time to evaluate your own brand values and consider how (or if) they manifest in your actions.

9. No commute

...Or a reduced one, at least!

The long commute is becoming a thing of the past as businesses look to re-establish a work-life balance. Of course, it can swing the other way. If you've got zero commute (i.e. because you work from home), you can end up working longer hours. That's where coworking comes in, of course.

A 2021 Deloitte report on the future of work sums up the reasons for this shift in a nutshell:

"This requirement [centralized offices] has determined people's choice of living space, driven hour-long commutes and the dedication of specific cubicles to individual employees. But now organizations have a much more diverse set of options, from employer-sponsored home offices to distributed coworking locations."

Much to the delight of flexible workers around the world, local coworking spaces are on the rise. Back in the day, you'd expect to have to travel into the city centre to get to a decent coworking facility, but nowadays they're cropping up everywhere - including in the countryside and on the average UK high street.
The stressful commute is fast becoming a thing of the past for many.
10. The human experience
Good employers encourage overall wellness by offering support (plus perks like yoga).
Moving forward, the focus will be on the "human experience" as opposed to the "employee experience". Remote working during the pandemic has helped to cement this shift. Think about it: we've witnessed multiple Zoom mishaps, people's kids wandering into view...the list goes on.

Gartner's 2020 Reimagine HR Employee Survey shows that employers who support their workers' lives overall experience a 23 per cent increase in the number of employees reporting better mental health, as well as a 17 per cent uptick in the number of employees reporting better physical health.

Ultimately, firms that provide a high level of support to employees benefit from a 21 per cent increase in the number of high performers (compared to those that don't).

You can't argue with that!

Keep an eye out for next week's article, in which we'll focus specifically on flexible working as a workplace trend that is certainly here to stay. We will be taking a look at some specific examples of firms who have employed the principles of flexible working more than effectively to show the different ways in which flexible working rapidly came, and remains the favourable option for companies everywhere today.

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The Future of Work - Workplace trends we can expect to see more of throughout 2021

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With today marking one year since the first coronavirus lockdown began in the UK, we are reflecting on the workplace trends and changes brought on by 2020 and how these are continuing to shape the future of work throughout 2021 and beyond.

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2021/02/13/the-future-of-work-in-7-simple-steps-with-infographics/?sh=2b0df7e1335a

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I won't start by saying 2020 was a rough year. We know that already.

We know that 2020 brought many businesses to their knees, requiring profound pivots, workforce and workplace changes, policy changes, and how it significantly altered how humans work.

As an executive coach for mid-sized to large organizations, I was in the thick of these changes every day (and still am). It wasn't uncommon to receive texts after hours and on weekends as my clients scrambled to find their footing in a brave, new, uncertain and constantly changing world.

Based on my work with over a dozen diverse organizations over the past year, below you'll find my predictions for what I believe The Future Of Work will look like.
#1 The Human Experience (HX) Will Replace The Employee Experience (EX)
Net-Net: Seeing employees as humans and helping them grow in all areas of their lives

Focus on: Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, financial health

Infographic: Learning together and how it benefits our brains

It's ok to be human at work now. We've seen the inside of one another's homes, heard our colleagues' children crying, dogs barking, and more. Thank goodness. Now we can connect to one another without the veneer of stilted professionalism.

Employee Experience (EX) was a 2-dimensional way of looking at humans. Now we care about the entire Human Experience (HX) and support our people to have more fulfilling lives, which of course helps them bring a more productive version of themselves to their work. Thanks to Gartner's 2020 Reimagine HR Employee Survey, employers that support their peoples' lives overall enjoy a 23% increase in the number of employees reporting better mental health, plus a 17% increase in the number of employees reporting better physical health. Additionally, employers benefit from a 21% increase in the number of high performers (compared to firms that don't provide the same degree of support to their employees).
#2 Personal And Corporate Value Alignment Will Support More Purpose-Driven Work
Net-Net: Truly living corporate values, not just hanging them on the wall

Focus on: Being authentic, walking your walk, talking your talk

Infographic: Employee engagement has a recipe... follow it!

We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We all want to know we're making a difference. We all want to work with (note I don't say "for") organizations whose values align with our own. According to some 2020 Gartner research , 74% of employees expect their organization to become more actively involved in current cultural debates of the day. How did you feel about some of the more public displays of CEO support of their values, such as certain social media companies unplugging accounts of hate groups and other malevolent social forces?

The more a CEO models the organization's values, invests in addressing challenging or even uncomfortable social issues, the more engaged their employees are. The same Gartner survey found a leap in employee engagement-from 40% to 60%- when their organization acted on today's key social issues. Wow. If you need some help setting/refreshing your values, here's a kit to help you.
#3 Hybrid Work Will Be The Norm-So Build A Virtual Culture
Net-Net: Release control over the work environment

Focus on: Where your people feel most productive and connected to their team/the organization overall

Infographic: You need a GAME Plan to make this work

Hybrid workforces are already becoming common, with employees working in their home, a quiet coffee shop, or the office (of some variation). What I'm curious about is the varying interest in hybrid that I'm seeing across my clients. Some employees are itching to get back to the physical office as much/as soon as possible. Others are ok coming in 1-3x per week, based on what's needed. What do your employees want? Find out. Regardless, you're going to need to have a GAME (Growth, Appreciation, Measurement, Engagement) plan to keep everyone "together" as a tribe. See the infographic above.

A recent Gartner survey found that 64% of managers believe that employees working in the office are higher performers than remote workers. And they said they'd be more likely to give in-office workers a higher raise than remote workers. This isn't the experience of my clients, though, who have found that remote workers are often higher performers. Gartner's data showed the same: for full-time workers from both 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (during the pandemic) remote workers are 5% more likely to be high performers than those who work from the office.

And be aware of gender disparity here too: many of my clients are finding that men are more interested in returning to the office versus women. If some managers believe the in-office employees are more productive, this could affect salary increases and promotions, which again could reinforce salary disparity between genders. No Bueno.
#4 Employee Monitoring Will Be Replaced By Performance Monitoring-And Trust
Net-Net: If you don't trust them, why do you employ them?

Focus on: Monitor performance and results, not hours clocked

Infographic: Motivation can be crushed by leadership -make sure you don't mess this up!

Did you know that as a result of the pandemic, more than 1 in 4 companies installed technology to passively track and monitor their employees? Wow. Imagine the privacy issues that come from this, as well as the trust issues. Now imagine if this happened to you-would you feel like your employer was looking over your shoulder all day? Spying on you? It's a sticky topic, and according to Gartner research, less than 50% of employees trust their organization with their data. This is not surprising, since 44% didn't receive any information regarding the data collected about them and how it would be used. Whoa. A little respect, please.

Expect to see a bevy of state and local regulations this year that will establish limits on what employers can track about their employees. If you choose to monitor your employees digitally, be sure to over communicate and be super transparent about the details. Regardless, you'll get the best results (and highest morale) by simply establishing clear KPIs, success metrics, goals, OKRs, whatever you prefer to call them and monitor individual performance instead.
#5 Flexible Working Hours Will Become The Norm
Net-Net: Ensure overlap that's essential, let go of control for the rest

Focus on: Letting people bring their best self, according to their work rhythm

Infographic: the Feedback Frame will help you give effective feedback

Are you a morning person? Or an evening person? What would it be like to work at your peak time each day? How much more productive and fulfilled could you be?

My clients are becoming increasingly flexible re: when to let their employees work. Some are requiring availability (not continuous though) between 9-5pm, meaning the employee can take gap time during this range as long as they check email at regular intervals and attend key meetings. Others are setting up split shifts (a mom for instance could work from 7-8am, then once the kids are set, from 10am-2pm, and again a check in on email/etc from 7-8pm). Get creative with exploring what your people need and what serves the business. This will require us to become better at giving feedback, and often doing it digitally. See the infographic above.

Gartner's 2020 Reimagine HR Employee Survey revealed that organizations offering employees flexibility over when, where and how much they work saw 55% of their work force as high performers. Yet at organization with a standard 40 hour work week, only 36% of employees were considered high performers. Again, it's time to measure on results, as I mention in #4 above, versus time clocked.
#6 Freelance, Temporary Help Will Be Welcomed To Optimize Resource Allocation
Net-Net: Stay lean and get extra help as needed

Focus on: You'll need better communication and more Standard Operating Procedures to ensure quality and consistency with temp help

Infographic: Be sure to include your temp help in your tribe

We all need more diverse capabilities and skills from our teams than ever before. And Gartner's analysis shows that organizations are now listing about 33% more skills on job ads in 2020 than they did in 2017. Why? Because the world is moving faster, technology is moving faster, we have more diversity in the work we do, so we all have to level up to meet ever-changing needs.

Many of my clients are looking to temp help, using UpWork, Fiverr and other sites to get the specific (often narrow) help them need at the moment. We'll need great communication to make this work, to help onboard everyone faster and ensure consistent quality work.
#7 Neurodiversity And Mental Health Support Will Be Destigmatized.
Net-Net: We all have our struggles, so let's support instead of judge

Key Focus: Create a Neurodiversity [link to neurodiversity blog] policy (if you don't have one yet) and internal support groups

Infographic: Stress, change, isolation are devastating to us all... learn what these do the brain so you can side step this risk

I was very happy to learn that even before the pandemic, Gartner research showed that 45% of well-being budget increases were being allocated to mental and emotional well-being programs. And now in the midst of the pandemic (and let's be realistic-for the ongoing future) we've seen mental and emotional well-being brought to the forefront for all organizations.

Per Gartner, by late March 2020, 68% of organizations had introduced at least one new wellness benefit to help their employees navigate the pandemic. And in 2021, we'll see organizations join my clients in widely offering "mental health days", support groups, compassion around ADHD, OCD, Bipolar, GAD employees. Just like some of us have a bad back and can't sit long in a given position, these mental and emotional challenges will be viewed the same way-with acceptance and non-judgment.

We've still got a way to go to whatever the new normal is going to be. With the above tools you'll be better positioned to capitalize on it, and with a happier, healthier, more productive workforce.

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The Future Of Work: 7 Trends And Tools You Need

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I won't start by saying 2020 was a rough year. We know that already. We know that 2020 brought many businesses to their knees, requiring profound pivots, workforce and workplace changes, policy changes, and how it significantly altered how humans work.

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https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-after-covid-19

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The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted labor markets globally during 2020. The short-term consequences were sudden and often severe: Millions of people were furloughed or lost jobs, and others rapidly adjusted to working from home as offices closed. Many other workers were deemed essential and continued to work in hospitals and grocery stores, on garbage trucks and in warehouses, yet under new protocols to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.

This report on the future of work after COVID-19 is the first of three MGI reports that examine aspects of the postpandemic economy. The others look at the pandemic's long-term influence on consumption and the potential for a broad recovery led by enhanced productivity and innovation. Here, we assess the lasting impact of the pandemic on labor demand, the mix of occupations, and the workforce skills required in eight countries with diverse economic and labor market models: China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Together, these eight countries account for almost half the global population and 62 percent of GDP.

Before COVID-19, the largest disruptions to work involved new technologies and growing trade links. COVID-19 has, for the first time, elevated the importance of the physical dimension of work. In this research, we develop a novel way to quantify the proximity required in more than 800 occupations by grouping them into ten work arenas according to their proximity to coworkers and customers, the number of interpersonal interactions involved, and their on-site and indoor nature.

This offers a different view of work than traditional sector definitions. For instance, our medical care arena includes only caregiving roles requiring close interaction with patients, such as doctors and nurses. Hospital and medical office administrative staff fall into the computer-based office work arena, where more work can be done remotely. Lab technicians and pharmacists work in the indoor production work arena because those jobs require use of specialized equipment on-site but have little exposure to other people (Exhibit 1).

We find that jobs in work arenas with higher levels of physical proximity are likely to see greater transformation after the pandemic, triggering knock-on effects in other work arenas as business models shift in response.

The short- and potential long-term disruptions to these arenas from COVID-19 vary. During the pandemic, the virus most severely disturbed arenas with the highest overall physical proximity scores: medical care, personal care, on-site customer service, and leisure and travel. In the longer term, work arenas with higher physical proximity scores are also likely to be more unsettled, although proximity is not the only explanation. For example:

The on-site customer interaction arena includes frontline workers who interact with customers in retail stores, banks, and post offices, among other places. Work in this arena is defined by frequent interaction with strangers and requires on-site presence. Some work in this arena migrated to e-commerce and other digital transactions, a behavioral change that is likely to stick.

The leisure and travel arena is home to customer-facing workers in hotels, restaurants, airports, and entertainment venues. Workers in this arena interact daily with crowds of new people. COVID-19 forced most leisure venues to close in 2020 and airports and airlines to operate on a severely limited basis. In the longer term, the shift to remote work and related reduction in business travel, as well as automation of some occupations, such as food service roles, may curtail labor demand in this arena.

The computer-based office work arena includes offices of all sizes and administrative workspaces in hospitals, courts, and factories. Work in this arena requires only moderate physical proximity to others and a moderate number of human interactions. This is the largest arena in advanced economies, accounting for roughly one-third of employment. Nearly all potential remote work is within this arena.

The outdoor production and maintenance arena includes construction sites, farms, residential and commercial grounds, and other outdoor spaces. COVID-19 had little impact here as work in this arena requires low proximity and few interactions with others and takes place fully outdoors. This is the largest arena in China and India, accounting for 35 to 55 percent of their workforces.

The pandemic pushed companies and consumers to rapidly adopt new behaviors that are likely to stick, changing the trajectory of three groups of trends. We consequently see sharp discontinuity between their impact on labor markets before and after the pandemic.

Remote work and virtual meetings are likely to continue, albeit less intensely than at the pandemic's peak

Perhaps the most obvious impact of COVID-19 on the labor force is the dramatic increase in employees working remotely. To determine how extensively remote work might persist after the pandemic, we analyzed its potential across more than 2,000 tasks used in some 800 occupations in the eight focus countries. Considering only remote work that can be done without a loss of productivity, we find that about 20 to 25 percent of the workforces in advanced economies could work from home between three and five days a week. This represents four to five times more remote work than before the pandemic and could prompt a large change in the geography of work, as individuals and companies shift out of large cities into suburbs and small cities. We found that some work that technically can be done remotely is best done in person. Negotiations, critical business decisions, brainstorming sessions, providing sensitive feedback, and onboarding new employees are examples of activities that may lose some effectiveness when done remotely.

Some companies are already planning to shift to flexible workspaces after positive experiences with remote work during the pandemic, a move that will reduce the overall space they need and bring fewer workers into offices each day. A survey of 278 executives by McKinsey in August 2020 found that on average, they planned to reduce office space by 30 percent. Demand for restaurants and retail in downtown areas and for public transportation may decline as a result.

Remote work may also put a dent in business travel as its extensive use of videoconferencing during the pandemic has ushered in a new acceptance of virtual meetings and other aspects of work. While leisure travel and tourism are likely to rebound after the crisis, McKinsey's travel practice estimates that about 20 percent of business travel, the most lucrative segment for airlines, may not return. This would have significant knock-on effects on employment in commercial aerospace, airports, hospitality, and food service. E-commerce and other virtual transactions are booming.

Many consumers discovered the convenience of e-commerce and other online activities during the pandemic. In 2020, the share of e-commerce grew at two to five times the rate before COVID-19 (Exhibit 2). Roughly three-quarters of people using digital channels for the first time during the pandemic say they will continue using them when things return to "normal," according to McKinsey Consumer Pulse surveys conducted around the world.

Other kinds of virtual transactions such as telemedicine, online banking, and streaming entertainment have also taken off. Online doctor consultations through Practo, a telehealth company in India, grew more than tenfold between April and November 2020. These virtual practices may decline somewhat as economies reopen but are likely to continue well above levels seen before the pandemic.

This shift to digital transactions has propelled growth in delivery, transportation, and warehouse jobs. In China, e-commerce, delivery, and social media jobs grew by more than 5.1 million during the first half of 2020.

COVID-19 may propel faster adoption of automation and AI, especially in work arenas with high physical proximity

Two ways businesses historically have controlled cost and mitigated uncertainty during recessions are by adopting automation and redesigning work processes, which reduce the share of jobs involving mainly routine tasks. In our global survey of 800 senior executives in July 2020, two-thirds said they were stepping up investment in automation and AI either somewhat or significantly. Production figures for robotics in China exceeded prepandemic levels by June 2020.

Many companies deployed automation and AI in warehouses, grocery stores, call centers, and manufacturing plants to reduce workplace density and cope with surges in demand. The common feature of these automation use cases is their correlation with high scores on physical proximity, and our research finds the work arenas with high levels of human interaction are likely to see the greatest acceleration in adoption of automation and AI.

The trends accelerated by COVID-19 may spur greater changes in the mix of jobs within economies than we estimated before the pandemic.

We find that a markedly different mix of occupations may emerge after the pandemic across the eight economies. Compared to our pre-COVID-19 estimates, we expect the largest negative impact of the pandemic to fall on workers in food service and customer sales and service roles, as well as less-skilled office support roles. Jobs in warehousing and transportation may increase as a result of the growth in e-commerce and the delivery economy, but those increases are unlikely to offset the disruption of many low-wage jobs. In the United States, for instance, customer service and food service jobs could fall by 4.3 million, while transportation jobs could grow by nearly 800,000. Demand for workers in the healthcare and STEM occupations may grow more than before the pandemic, reflecting increased attention to health as populations age and incomes rise as well as the growing need for people who can create, deploy, and maintain new technologies (Exhibit 3).

Before the pandemic, net job losses were concentrated in middle-wage occupations in manufacturing and some office work, reflecting automation, and low- and high-wage jobs continued to grow. Nearly all low-wage workers who lost jobs could move into other low-wage occupations-for instance, a data entry worker could move into retail or home healthcare. Because of the pandemic's impact on low-wage jobs, we now estimate that almost all growth in labor demand will occur in high-wage jobs. Going forward, more than half of displaced low-wage workers may need to shift to occupations in higher wage brackets and requiring different skills to remain employed.

Given the expected concentration of job growth in high-wage occupations and declines in low-wage occupations, the scale and nature of workforce transitions required in the years ahead will be challenging, according to our research. Across the eight focus countries, more than 100 million workers, or 1 in 16, will need to find a different occupation by 2030 in our post-COVID-19 scenario, as shown in Exhibit 4. This is 12 percent more than we estimated before the pandemic, and up to 25 percent more in advanced economies (Exhibit 4).

Before the pandemic, we estimated that just 6 percent of workers would need to find jobs in higher wage occupations. In our post-COVID-19 research, we find not only that a larger share of workers will likely need to transition out of the bottom two wage brackets but also that roughly half of them overall will need new, more advanced skills to move to occupations one or even two wage brackets higher.

The skill mix required among workers who need to shift occupations has changed. The share of time German workers spend using basic cognitive skills, for example, may shrink by 3.4 percentage points, while time spend using social and emotional skills will increase by 3.2 percentage points. In India, the share of total work hours expended using physical and manual skills will decline by 2.2 percentage points, while time devoted to technological skills will rise 3.3 percentage points. Workers in occupations in the lowest wage bracket use basic cognitive skills and physical and manual skills 68 percent of the time, while in the middle wage bracket, use of these skills occupies 48 percent of time spent. In the highest two brackets, those skills account for less than 20 percent of time spent. The most disadvantaged workers may have the biggest job transitions ahead, in part because of their disproportionate employment in the arenas most affected by COVID-19. In Europe and the United States, workers with less than a college degree, members of ethnic minority groups, and women are more likely to need to change occupations after COVID-19 than before. In the United States, people without a college degree are 1.3 times more likely to need to make transitions compared to those with a college degree, and Black and Hispanic workers are 1.1 times more likely to have to transition between occupations than white workers. In France, Germany, and Spain, the increase in job transitions required due to trends influenced by COVID-19 is 3.9 times higher for women than for men. Similarly, the need for occupational changes will hit younger workers more than older workers, and individuals not born in the European Union more than native-born workers.

The scale of workforce transitions set off by COVID-19's influence on labor trends increases the urgency for businesses and policymakers to take steps to support additional training and education programs for workers. Companies and governments exhibited extraordinary flexibility and adaptability in responding to the pandemic with purpose and innovation that they might also harness to retool the workforce in ways that point to a brighter future of work.

Businesses can start with a granular analysis of what work can be done remotely by focusing on the tasks involved rather than whole jobs. They can also play a larger role in retraining workers, as Walmart, Amazon, and IBM have done. Others have facilitated occupational shifts by focusing on the skills they need, rather than on academic degrees. Remote work also offers companies the opportunity to enrich their diversity by tapping workers who, for family and other reasons, were unable to relocate to the superstar cities where talent, capital, and opportunities concentrated before the pandemic.

Policymakers could support businesses by expanding and enhancing the digital infrastructure. Even in advanced economies, almost 20 percent of workers in rural households lack access to the internet. Governments could also consider extending benefits and protections to independent workers and to workers working to build their skills and knowledge mid-career.

Both businesses and policymakers could collaborate to support workers migrating between occupations. Under the Pact for Skills established in the European Union during the pandemic, companies and public authorities have dedicated €7 billion to enhancing the skills of some 700,000 automotive workers, while in the United States, Merck and other large companies have put up more than $100 million to burnish the skills of Black workers without a college education and create jobs that they can fill.

The reward of such efforts would be a more resilient, more talented, and better-paid workforce-and a more robust and equitable society.
Go behind the scenes and get more insights with "Where the jobs are: An inside look at our new Future of Work research" from our New at McKinsey blog.

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The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated existing future of work trends, with 25% more workers than previously estimated potentially needing to switch occupations.

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Research question article (This one is in Swedish)

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Research question article (This one is in Swedish)

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https://omni.se/trendspaning-sa-ser-framtidens-kontor-ut/a/0GW95E

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Kommer våra kontor någonsin helt återgå till som de såg ut före pandemin? Troligtvis inte. I och med att allt fler arbetsgivare ger sina anställda möjligheter att jobba enligt en hybridmodell, det vill säga kombinera distans- och kontorsarbete, ökar kraven på att arbetsplatsen kan tillföra något extra.

En av de största nackdelarna med att jobba på distans är avsaknaden av socialt umgänge. Därför kan det vara en god idé att utforma arbetsplatsen på ett sätt som gynnar sociala möten och kreativitet. Samtidigt är det viktigt att ha i åtanke att alla har olika behov. En del föredrar öppna kontorslandskap medan andra vill sitta mer isolerat.

- Precis som när man inreder sitt hem tillsammans med familjen ska man inreda kontoret tillsammans med medarbetarna. Det ska vara representativt för gäster, funktionellt för medarbetarna samt med mysfaktor för avslappnat möte och umgänge, säger Sebastian Dell Uva, designer vid AJ Produkter.

Hos AJ Produkter finns många olika typer av kontorsmöbler som är anpassade efter "den nya tidens" sätt att arbeta. En av dessa innovativa möbler är en fåtölj och soffa med USB-uttag i armstödet så att man kan ladda sin mobil och läsplatta där man sitter. Hos AJ Produkter finns även loungemöbler som bidrar till att skapa en behaglig känsla på arbetsplatsen.

- Jag tror på olika typer av flexibla konstellationer som förenklar rörelse och skapar nya möjligheter för användaren i sitt arbete i rummet. Människan är inte statisk och därför bör inte arbetsplatsen heller vara det. Det kommer bli enklare för användaren att individanpassa sitt arbete i rummet på egen hand, säger Sebastian Dell Uva.

Detta är en annons från vår partner, den är inte skriven av journalisterna på Omnis redaktion. Innehållet behöver inte nödvändigtvis reflektera Omniredaktionens åsikter.

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Trendspaning: Så ser framtidens kontor ut

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Kommer våra kontor någonsin helt återgå till som de såg ut före pandemin? Troligtvis inte. I och med att allt fler arbetsgivare ger sina anställda möjligheter att jobba enligt en hybridmodell, det vill säga kombinera distans- och kontorsarbete, ökar kraven på att arbetsplatsen kan tillföra något extra.

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Related article to research question - "Possible effects of a new post pandemic working life pattern"

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Related article to research question - "Possible effects of a new post pandemic working life pattern"

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https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201023-coronavirus-how-will-the-pandemic-change-the-way-we-work

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Coronavirus: How the world of work may change forever

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Covid-19 upended our jobs. We’ve tried to adapt, but what about the long term? BBC Worklife asks dozens of experts to flag the biggest questions we should be asking in 2020 and beyond.

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https://www.who.int/news/item/13-10-2020-impact-of-covid-19-on-people%27s-livelihoods-their-health-and-our-food-systems

The pandemic - the impact the pandemic has made. People losing their jobs, not earning money, and coming to live in complete poverty.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of human life worldwide and presents an unprecedented challenge to public health, food systems and the world of work. The economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic is devastating: tens of millions of people are at risk of falling into extreme poverty, while the number of undernourished people, currently estimated at nearly 690 million, could increase by up to 132 million by the end of the year.

Millions of enterprises face an existential threat. Nearly half of the world's 3.3 billion global workforce are at risk of losing their livelihoods. Informal economy workers are particularly vulnerable because the majority lack social protection and access to quality health care and have lost access to productive assets. Without the means to earn an income during lockdowns, many are unable to feed themselves and their families. For most, no income means no food, or, at best, less food and less nutritious food.

The pandemic has been affecting the entire food system and has laid bare its fragility. Border closures, trade restrictions and confinement measures have been preventing farmers from accessing markets, including for buying inputs and selling their produce, and agricultural workers from harvesting crops, thus disrupting domestic and international food supply chains and reducing access to healthy, safe and diverse diets. The pandemic has decimated jobs and placed millions of livelihoods at risk. As breadwinners lose jobs, fall ill and die, the food security and nutrition of millions of women and men are under threat, with those in low-income countries, particularly the most marginalized populations, which include small-scale farmers and indigenous peoples, being hardest hit.

Millions of agricultural workers - waged and self-employed - while feeding the world, regularly face high levels of working poverty, malnutrition and poor health, and suffer from a lack of safety and labour protection as well as other types of abuse. With low and irregular incomes and a lack of social support, many of them are spurred to continue working, often in unsafe conditions, thus exposing themselves and their families to additional risks. Further, when experiencing income losses, they may resort to negative coping strategies, such as distress sale of assets, predatory loans or child labour. Migrant agricultural workers are particularly vulnerable, because they face risks in their transport, working and living conditions and struggle to access support measures put in place by governments. Guaranteeing the safety and health of all agri-food workers - from primary producers to those involved in food processing, transport and retail, including street food vendors - as well as better incomes and protection, will be critical to saving lives and protecting public health, people's livelihoods and food security.

In the COVID-19 crisis food security, public health, and employment and labour issues, in particular workers' health and safety, converge. Adhering to workplace safety and health practices and ensuring access to decent work and the protection of labour rights in all industries will be crucial in addressing the human dimension of the crisis. Immediate and purposeful action to save lives and livelihoods should include extending social protection towards universal health coverage and income support for those most affected. These include workers in the informal economy and in poorly protected and low-paid jobs, including youth, older workers, and migrants. Particular attention must be paid to the situation of women, who are over-represented in low-paid jobs and care roles. Different forms of support are key, including cash transfers, child allowances and healthy school meals, shelter and food relief initiatives, support for employment retention and recovery, and financial relief for businesses, including micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. In designing and implementing such measures it is essential that governments work closely with employers and workers.

Countries dealing with existing humanitarian crises or emergencies are particularly exposed to the effects of COVID-19. Responding swiftly to the pandemic, while ensuring that humanitarian and recovery assistance reaches those most in need, is critical.

Now is the time for global solidarity and support, especially with the most vulnerable in our societies, particularly in the emerging and developing world. Only together can we overcome the intertwined health and social and economic impacts of the pandemic and prevent its escalation into a protracted humanitarian and food security catastrophe, with the potential loss of already achieved development gains.

We must recognize this opportunity to build back better, as noted in the Policy Brief issued by the United Nations Secretary-General. We are committed to pooling our expertise and experience to support countries in their crisis response measures and efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. We need to develop long-term sustainable strategies to address the challenges facing the health and agri-food sectors. Priority should be given to addressing underlying food security and malnutrition challenges, tackling rural poverty, in particular through more and better jobs in the rural economy, extending social protection to all, facilitating safe migration pathways and promoting the formalization of the informal economy.

We must rethink the future of our environment and tackle climate change and environmental degradation with ambition and urgency. Only then can we protect the health, livelihoods, food security and nutrition of all people, and ensure that our 'new normal' is a better one.

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Impact of COVID-19 on people's livelihoods, their health and our food systems

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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of human life worldwide and presents an unprecedented challenge to public health, food systems and the world of work.

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https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00175-z

The pandemic - how the pandemic has affected peoples' mental health.

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As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its second year, new fast-spreading variants have caused a surge in infections in many countries, and renewed lockdowns. The devastation of the pandemic - millions of deaths, economic strife and unprecedented curbs on social interaction - has already had a marked effect on people's mental health. Researchers worldwide are investigating the causes and impacts of this stress, and some fear that the deterioration in mental health could linger long after the pandemic has subsided. Ultimately, scientists hope that they can use the mountains of data being collected in studies about mental health to link the impact of particular control measures to changes in people's well-being, and to inform the management of future pandemics.

The data that emerge from these studies will be huge, says sociologist James Nazroo at the University of Manchester, UK. "This is really ambitious science," he says.

More than 42% of people surveyed by the US Census Bureau in December reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in December, an increase from 11% the previous year. Data from other surveys suggest that the picture is similar worldwide (see 'COVID's mental stress'). "I don't think this is going to go back to baseline anytime soon," says clinical psychologist Luana Marques, at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, who is monitoring the mental-health impacts of the crisis in US populations and elsewhere.

Major events that have shaken societies, such as the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York, have left some people with psychological distress for years, says Marques. A study of more than 36,000 New York residents and rescue workers revealed that more than 14 years after the attack, 14% still had post-traumatic stress disorder and 15% experienced depression - much higher rates than in comparable populations (5% and 8%, respectively).

Fear and isolation

The distress in the pandemic probably stems from people's limited social interactions, tensions among families in lockdown together and fear of illness, says psychiatrist Marcella Rietschel at the Central Institute for Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany.

Studies and surveys conducted so far in the pandemic consistently show that young people, rather than older people, are most vulnerable to increased psychological distress, perhaps because their need for social interactions are stronger. Data also suggest that young women are more vulnerable than young men, and people with young children, or a previously diagnosed psychiatric disorder, are at particularly high risk for mental-health problems. "The things that we know predispose people to mental health problems and conditions have been increased as a whole," says Victor Ugo, a campaign officer who specializes in mental-health policy at United for Global Mental Health, a mental-health advocacy group in London.

Scientists running large, detailed international studies say that they might eventually be able to show how particular COVID-control measures - such as lockdowns or restrictions on social interaction - reduce or exacerbate mental-health stress, and whether some populations, such as minority ethnic groups, are disproportionately affected by certain policies. That could help to inform the response in this pandemic and future ones, say researchers.

"We have a real opportunity, a natural experiment, in how policies in different countries impact people's mental health," says epidemiologist Kathleen Merikangas at the US National Institutes of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Monitoring mental health

International comparisons

To draw studies together, Daisy Fancourt, a psychoneuroimmunologist at University College London, launched the Wellcome-funded CovidMinds programme, which has assembled around 140 longitudinal studies in more than 70 countries. These recruit large numbers of participants and collect health information at regular intervals. CovidMinds links scientists in different countries and encourages the use of standardized questionnaires so that outcomes can be directly compared in international collaborations. "This may allow us to compare the psychological response alongside the political response across countries," she says.

This collection of studies is a mix of existing population cohorts and studies established early in the pandemic. Existing cohorts are advantageous because their compositions tend to reflect that of general population, so their results can be generalized. And because long-running population cohorts will have data on participants from before the pandemic, they can quantify changes in mental health accurately, says epidemiologist Klaus Berger at the University of Muenster in Germany, who chairs the German National Cohort, one of the world's largest health cohorts.

But large, established cohorts move relatively slowly and mostly sample infrequently. The newer cohorts lack the baseline of data collected before the pandemic, but many can follow the dynamics of the crisis in a nimbler way.

Fancourt leads one of the largest new studies, the UK COVID-19 Social Study. The study recruited - mostly through social media - more than 72,000 UK adults in the first few weeks of the country's first lockdown, in March. Participants fill in a weekly 10-minute online questionnaire, which includes questions that identify feelings of anxiety or depression.

Real-time data

"With survey responses coming in at a rate of one every 20 seconds, we get information about how people are responding psychologically and socially to the pandemic in real time, and see specifically how it's changed in response to things like new government measures coming in, or lockdown measures being eased," says Fancourt. For example, she says, the high levels of anxiety and depression the study found in its early weeks reduced during the lockdown, rather than increased as some had anticipated.

"Together, these types of study will tell us how government policies are experienced across different segments of societies and will help us understand how we should manage this pandemic, and future pandemics," says Nazroo, who is participating in the European Union-wide Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe cohort and other surveys related to COVID and mental health.

Another study, called the COVID-19 Health Care Workers Study, aims to quantify how health workers, who have faced unprecedented levels of illness and death, have coped. The study is collecting data in 21 countries, including low-income nations in Latin America and Africa where mental-health resources are limited (see 'Monitoring mental health'). "We want to compare across countries to know what is happening that is different," says Olatunde Ayinde, a research on the study's Nigerian arm. He thinks that geographical variations are likely to stem from differences in the quality of mental-health services, the availability and types of social care on offer and poverty levels. Many countries in Africa have just a fraction of the mental-health practitioners compared with high-income countries. "We want to know what is responsible for the differences," says Ayinde.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00175-z

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COVID's mental-health toll: how scientists are tracking a surge in depression

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As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its second year, new fast-spreading variants have caused a surge in infections in many countries, and renewed lockdowns. The devastation of the pandemic - millions of deaths, economic strife and unprecedented curbs on social interaction - has already had a marked effect on people's mental health.

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Climate change - quote by Greta Thunberg, warning and enlighting us what this climate crisis is really about.

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Climate change - this illustration shows what over-consumption does to our planet. The barcode being used as a saw, which shows what the outcome of them sawing down the tree will be - consumption.

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The pandemic - this illustration shows what the world looked like while being in lockdown, and the pretty side of it. People being there for each other.

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Climate change - I think this illustration shows the chain reaction made from the way we treat our planet. What it does to the animals living on this planet. It's happening because of us humans.